The SDFLA Blog is dedicated to providing news and notes regarding federal practice in the Southern District of Florida. The New Times calls the blog "the definitive source on South Florida's federal court system." All tips on court happenings are welcome and will remain anonymous. Please email David Markus at dmarkus@markuslaw.com

Tuesday, December 06, 2016

Judge William Pryor rules in favor of "Gay-Straight Alliance" club at middle school

Interesting in light of his consideration for the Supreme Court. The opinion, written by Judge Pryor, and joined by Judge Marcus and a visiting judge, is here. The intro:

This appeal requires us to decide whether a complaint that a school boardviolated the Equal Access Act when it denied the application of the Carver Gay-Straight Alliance to form a student club is ripe and not moot and whether the Actapplies to a public middle school in Florida. After a teacher at Carver MiddleSchool submitted an application for the approval of the Carver Gay-StraightAlliance, the superintendent denied the application on the ground that theapplication failed to identify an allowed purpose for the club. Instead of submittinga new application, the Alliance and a student, H.F., filed a complaint that the Boardhad violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution and theEqual Access Act. Under the Act, if a public school “provides secondary educationas determined by State law,” the school must give extracurricular clubs equalaccess to school resources. 20 U.S.C. §§ 4071–72. Following a bench trial, thedistrict court entered a judgment against the constitutional claims, dismissed theclaim under the Act as both not ripe and moot, and ruled, in the alternative, that theAct does not apply to Carver Middle School. The Alliance and H.F. appeal onlythe dismissal of their complaint that the Board violated the Act. Because we conclude that the complaint of the Alliance and H.F. is ripe and not moot and that the Act applies to Carver Middle School, we vacate and remand for further proceedings.

The ACLU issued a press release, stating: “We are of course pleased that the court agreed with our legal position on
all of the issues in the appeal,” stated Daniel Tilley, Staff Attorney for
LGBTS Rights for the ACLU of Florida. “But the greater victory is for the
middle school students across Florida who are protected by the Equal Access Act
and must be allowed to create a gay-straight alliance if their school allows
student clubs.”

2 comments:

Not a revolutionary opinion. He's carefully lining up his exhibits of moderation.

In a 2003 legal brief arguing to uphold a Texas law criminalizing consensual LGBT sex, then AG Pryor compared it to “polygamy, incest, pedophilia, prostitution, and adultery” and argued that states should be free to prosecute gay people as criminals. He said the rights of LGBT people as a group are not protected by the Constitution.

The Southern District of Florida blog was started in 2005 by David Oscar Markus, who is a criminal trial and appellate lawyer in Miami, Florida. He frequently practices in federal courts around the country, including his hometown, the Southern District of Florida and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. He is a former law clerk to then-Chief Judge of the District, Edward B. Davis.